Friday, March 11, 2011

Astrology and the Situation in Wisconsin

Adsense is hilarious sometimes. Particularly on my last post it was amusing to watch it struggle to find relevant ads - the best one I saw was for a flight simulator. It will probably have an easier time with this post, but we'll see...

Today I'm going to post about some of the astrological things going on lately. I'm not going to explain all the basics of astrology - I do that in the book I've been working on, and this page does a pretty decent job too. I will explain the concepts I touch on, though.

Today we're going to look at ongoing world transits, because those apply to everyone on the planet. To chart world transits means to look at the angles between planets' current positions as seen from the Earth. Even though every sane astrologer these days admits that the planets revolve around the Sun, it's still useful to take the geocentric perspective here, because we're curious about astrological conditions on Earth.

There are two mutually supporting ways to look at world transits: the first is to look at the angles different planets make to compare them, looking for specific angles (called aspects), and the second is to look at what part of the sky (what sign of the Zodiac) the planets are in. Today we'll be focusing primarily on the first way, using the second as a method of fleshing out the information gleaned from the aspects.

Astrologers and investors who use astrology agree that the three most starkly noticeable aspects are at angles of 0, 90, and 180 degrees. The first is called the conjunction, because it occurs when two planets are lined up more-or-less exactly. The second is called the square, because the two planets involved are pointing from Earth in directions that are exactly perpendicular. The 180 degree aspect is called the opposition because the planets are on opposite sides of the Earth. The conjunction and opposition are considered the most significant aspects in a planetary cycle. (A planetary cycle takes place from the time when two planets are in conjunction with each other from earth through the times they form squares and an opposition until they come back into conjunction.)

Today (and for the past couple months, since the outer planets move slowly) we have Jupiter (indicated by the magenta glyph resembling the numeral 4) and Saturn (indicated by the purple glyph that looks sort of like a ligature between t and h) in opposition within 5 degrees. Jupiter is in Aries, and Saturn is in Libra. The most obvious manifestation of this aspect in current U.S. affairs is the struggle between constraining spending (Saturn) to balance the budget (Libra) and continued plenitude (Jupiter). The fact that Jupiter in this arrangement is in Aries is reflected in the Wisconsin protests, and Jupiter's archetype being shown through their unprecedented scale. The Jupiter archetype is also still being catalyzed by its still-separating square with Pluto (indicated by the glyph with the circle suspended in the crescent above the cross), which tends to go with the archetypes it aspects coming with a deeply powerful, partially unconscious force. This we see in how the protests have become a symbol for accumulated rage against the top 1 percent that owns more than 50 percent in our country. The worldly motivation of this struggle is reflected in Pluto's position in Capricorn.

For a much shorter duration than these aspects among the outer planets last, we have a harmonious angle between Venus (indicated by the symbol that indicates femininity nowadays) and the Jupiter-Saturn opposition. It's around 60 degrees (called sextile) from Jupiter, and around 120 degrees (trine) from Saturn. The sextile and trine aspects are somewhat less noticeable than oppositions and squares because they are harmonious aspects, and the squeaky wheel gets the grease. In the trine aspect, energy tends to flow naturally between the two archetypes involved; the sextile aspect also indicates a flow between the archetypes, but one that must be cultivated through effort. The placement of Venus in Aquarius, the sign of voluntary relation among other things, emphasizes the need to relate as an independent entity. As Venus separates from sextile with Jupiter and applies to trine with Saturn over the next few days, I suspect that we will see the discourse revolving around the Jupiter-Saturn opposition (most easily seen in Wisconsin at the moment) deteriorate further.

It's worth noting that at the current time, Jupiter and Uranus (indicated by the circle under the cross with crescents on either side of it) are still within 10 degrees of each other, moving out of conjunction. When Jupiter and Uranus catalyze each other, an expansion of the liberating force tends to occur at the same time as the tendency to expansion is loosed upon new territories, and events like the invention of the telegraph, the Wright Brother's first flight, and the first radio broadcast all occurred during conjunctions or oppositions of these two planets. In this case, again looking to the events in Wisconsin, we see the class warfare issue coming into play as the class that feels oppressed (conjunct Uranus) opposes the budget rectifications (Saturn in Libra).

The next month will be interesting, as the Sun passes over Uranus on the 20th and over Jupiter on April 5th, and the Saturn-Jupiter opposition comes to perfection toward the end of March.

12 comments:

Great post. From your stars-reading abilities, do you think the world is coming to and end come 2012? I used to think its horse-shit, but recent events (natural disasters, unrest in middle east, governments going broke, etc.) makes me doubt that thinking. Following your blog nonetheless.

No, Chris, I don't think the world is coming to an end in 2012. If I were to expect a big event on the winter solstice that year, I'd look to the way Pluto, Saturn, and Venus are all pointing at Jupiter (roughly 150, -150, and 180 degrees away from it respectively). So big, possibly, but final? It ain't over 'til it's over.

@TheHarvester: The circle on the outside is the Zodiac. It's the circle through the stars that the Sun traces with its path over the course of the year, and it's based on where the Sun is at the Vernal Equinox. The symbols inside that indicate the positions of the planets. The colorful lines crossing the inner circle indicate aspects between the planets: red for divisions of the circle into two and its multiples, blue for divisions into three and its multiples.